Local News

Hawley, Bush Make the Push in Congress To Clean Up Hazelwood Contamination | St. Louis Metro News | St. Louis

Published

2 years ago

February 15, 2023

[ad_1]

click to enlarge Google Maps Jana Elementary.

U.S. Congresswoman Cori Bush (D- St. Louis) and Republican U.S. Senator Josh Hawley don’t agree on much, but they are expected to introduce similar legislation to make sure Hazelwood Schools are safe from radioactive contamination.

On Tuesday, Josh Hawley introduced the Justice for Jana Elementary Act, a bill to force the cleanup of the shuttered Jana Elementary School and order the United States Army Corps of Engineers to test all Hazelwood School District properties.

“Hazardous radioactive contamination has no place in schools,” the Missouri Republican says in a statement. “Students and parents of Jana Elementary and the Hazelwood School District deserve to know that their schools are safe. Federal authorities created this problem years ago and refused to fix it. Now the federal government must take responsibility and make things right.”

Bush is expected to introduce a similar bill in the U.S. House.

The Justice for Jana Elementary Act would:

Order the Army Corps to establish new remediation goals to clean up Jana Elementary
Order the corps to test all Hazelwood schools for radioactive contaminants
Create a fund to permit towns with schools affected by Manhattan Project-era atomic programs to request financial assistance for radioactive testing or construction of new school facilities, with financial aid not to exceed $20 million per school
Order the U.S. Department of Energy to review all testing performed at Jana Elementary and determine if the testing was reliable.

Ashley Bernaugh, the president of the Jana Parent-Teacher Association, says she was pleased by Hawley’s bill.

“They’ll finally have the tools to do right by Jana and any other school harmed by the Department of Energy,” Bernaugh says.

The Hazelwood School District Board of Education ordered the closure of Jana, located in Florissant, in mid-October after a private company detected what it described as toxic levels of radioactive particles in the building and surrounding soil. The board later approved a controversial plan to disperse the nearly 400 Jana students and staff among five other Hazelwood schools beginning in late November.

Confusion followed in November, when follow-up testing performed by both the Army Corps of Engineers and a school contractor, SCI Engineering, indicated Jana is safe. But SCI Engineering also recommended Hazelwood test all of its buildings for contamination after finding out that dirt from Jana was used as fill material on a football field at Hazelwood Central.

In December, the Hazelwood school board voted unanimously to ask the Army Corps to test nearly 30 district schools and support buildings, and the land surrounding them, for radioactive waste particles emanating from north county dump sites linked to America’s nuclear weapons programs in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s.

In addition, the board resolution asks all local, state and federal lawmakers to pressure the federal government to pay for all testing and cleanup costs if necessary.

So far the Army Corps has not responded to the school board’s request, instead directing the board’s concerns to the U.S. Department of Energy, which has also been silent.

The board ordered Jana shut after a report drafted by a private company, Boston Chemical Data, indicated dangerous levels of radioactive waste both inside the school and on its surrounding soil. The waste emanates from nearby Coldwater Creek, which was contaminated by Mallinckrodt Chemical Co. as part of its nuclear weapons work for the federal government during the 1940s and 1950s.

Mike Fitzgerald can be reached at [email protected].

[ad_2]

Source link

Local News

Fenton Man Charged in Sword Attack on Roommate

Published

10 months ago

May 22, 2024

Natural Bridge

[ad_1]

A warrant is out for a Fenton man’s arrest after he allegedly attacked his roommate with a sword.

Police say that on Sunday, Angelus Scott spoke openly about “slicing his roommate’s head” before he grabbed a sword, raised it up and then swung it down at the roommate.

The roommate grabbed Scott’s hand in time to prevent injury. When police arrived at the scene, they found the weapon used in the assault.

The sword in question was a katana, which is a Japanese sword recognizable for its curved blade.

This isn’t the first time a samurai-style sword has been used to violent effect in St. Louis. In 2018, a man hearing voices slaughtered his ex-boyfriend with a samurai sword. His mother said he suffered from schizoaffective disorder.

As for Scott, 35, the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office was charged yesterday with two felonies, assault first degree and armed criminal action. The warrant for his arrest says he is to be held on $200,000 bond.

[ad_2]

Source link

Local News

Caught on Video, Sheriff Says He’s Ready to ‘Turn It All Over’ to Deputy

Published

10 months ago

May 22, 2024

Natural Bridge

[ad_1]

Video of St. Louis Sheriff Vernon Betts taken by a former deputy suggests that the sheriff has a successor in mind to hand the reins of the department over to, even as Betts is in an increasingly heated campaign for reelection.

“I ain’t here for all this rigmarole,” Betts says in the video while seated behind his desk at the Carnahan Courthouse. “The Lord sent me here to turn this department around and I’m doing the best I can and I think I’ve done a good job. I’ve got about eight months and I’m going to qualify for my fourth pension.”

He goes on, “Right now I can walk up out of here and live happily ever after and forget about all this…and live like a king.”

The sheriff then says his wife has been in Atlanta looking at houses and that the other deputy in the room, Donald Hawkins, is someone Betts has been training “to turn it all over to him.”

Asked about the video, Betts tells the RFT, “My future plans are to win reelection on August 6th by a wide margin and to continue my mission as the top elected law enforcement official to make St. Louis safer and stronger. Serving the people of St. Louis with integrity, honor and professional law enforcement qualifications is a sacred responsibility, and I intend to complete that mission.”

The video of Betts was taken by Barbara Chavers, who retired from the sheriff’s office in 2016 after 24 years of service. Chavers now works security at Schnucks at Grand and Gravois. Betts’ brother Howard works security there, too.

Chavers tells the RFT that she was summoned to Betts’ office last week after Betts’ brother made the sheriff aware that she was supporting Montgomery. It was no secret: Chavers had filmed a Facebook live video in which she said she was supporting Betts’ opponent Alfred Montgomery in the election this fall. “Make the judges safe,” she says in the video, standing in front of a large Montgomery sign on Gravois Avenue. “They need a sheriff who is going to make their courtrooms safe.”

In his office, even as Chavers made clear she was filming him, Betts told Chavers he was “flabbergasted” and “stunned” she was supporting Montgomery.

“I don’t know what I did that would make you go against the preacher man,” he says, referring to himself. He then refers to Montgomery as “ungodly.”

Betts goes on to say that not long ago, he was walking in his neighborhood on St. Louis Avenue near 20th Street when suddenly Montgomery pulled up in his car and, according to Betts, shouted, “You motherfucker, you this, you that. You’re taking my signs down.”

Montgomery tells the RFT that he’s never interacted with Betts outside of candidate forums and neighborhood meetings.

“I don’t think anyone with good sense would do something like that to a sitting sheriff,” Montgomery says.

Montgomery has had campaign signs missing and on at least two occasions has obtained video of people tearing them down. (Chavers notes that the sign that she filmed her original Facebook video in front of is itself now missing.)

One man who lives near Columbus Square says that he recently put out two Montgomery signs, which later went missing. “If they keep taking them, I’ll keep putting them up,” he said.

Betts says he has nothing to do with the missing signs. In the video Chavers filmed in Betts’ office, Betts says that his campaign isn’t in a spot where it needs to resort to tearing down opponents’ signs.

“If you sit here long enough, a man is getting ready to come across the street from City Hall bringing me $500, today,” Betts says. “I’m getting that kind of support. I don’t need to tear down signs.”

[ad_2]

Source link

Local News

St. Louis to Develop First Citywide Transportation Plan in Decades

Published

10 months ago

May 21, 2024

Natural Bridge

[ad_1]

The City of St. Louis is working to develop its first citywide mobility plan in decades, Mayor Tishaura Jones’ office announced Tuesday. This plan seeks to make it easier for everyone — drivers, pedestrians, bikers and public transit users — to safely commute within the city.

The plan will bring together other city projects like the Brickline Greenway, Future64, the MetroLink Green Line, and more, “while establishing new priorities for a safer, more efficient and better-maintained transportation network across the City,” according to the release.

The key elements in the plan will be public engagement, the development of a safety action plan, future infrastructure priorities and transportation network mapping, according to Jones’ office.

The overarching goals are to create a vision for citywide mobility, plan a mixture of short and long-term mobility projects and to develop improved communication tools with the public to receive transportation updates. In recent years, both people who use public transit and cyclists have been outspoken about the difficulties — and dangers — of navigating St. Louis streets, citing both cuts to public transit and traffic violence.

To garner public input and participation for the plan, Jones’ office said there will be community meetings, focus groups and a survey for residents to share their concerns. The city will also be establishing a Community Advisory Committee. Those interested in learning more should check out at tmp-stl.com/

“Everyone deserves to feel safe when getting around St. Louis, whether they’re driving, biking, walking or taking public transit,” Jones said in a news release. “Creating a comprehensive transportation and mobility plan allows us to make intentional and strategic investments so that moving around St. Louis for jobs, education, and entertainment becomes easier, safer and more enjoyable.”

[ad_2]

Source link